Conveyer for tractor-mounted corn pickers



March 27, 1951 HYMAN ET AL 2,546,750

CONVEYER FOR TRACTOR-MOUNTED CORN PICKERS Original Filed April 11, 19422 Sheets-Sheet 1 &

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March 27, 1951 B. M. HYMAN ETAL CONVEYER FOR TRACTOR-MOUNTED CORNPICKERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed April 11, 1942 a x MN PatentedMar. 27, v 1951 CONVEYER FOR TRACTOR-MOUNTEDCORN PICKERS Benjamin M.Hyman and E101. K. Karlsson,

Moline, Ill., assignors to International Harvester Company, acorporation of New Jersey Original application April 11, 1942, SerialNo. 438,582. Divided and this application June 23, 1948, Serial No.34,777

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a harvester. More specifically it relates to atractor-mounted corn" picker and is a division of our parent applicationhaving Serial No. 438,582, filed April 11, 1942, and now having maturedinto Patent No. 2,458,782.

Tractor-mounted corn pickers in which corn is conveyed over the rearaxle of the tractor by rolls or by conveyors may be somewhat difficultto remove from the tractors. Tractor-mounted corn pickers in whichvarious mechanisms, such as rolls and conveyors, are at a level belowthe tractor axle and extend beneath the tractor axle may be more easilyremoved from the tractor. The corn picker of the present invention is ofthe latter type.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved harvester.

A further object is the provision of an improved corn picker.

Another object is to provide an improved tractor-mounted harvester.

Another object is the provision of an improved conveying means.

Still another object is to provide an improved wagon elevator for thecorn picker.

A still further important object of this invention is to provide a wagonelevator to be carried at the rear of a tractor and including means tofeed material transversely at the rear of the tractor prior to upwardand rearward elevation of the material.

Still another object is to provide a triangular shaped elevator conveyorin combination with a tractor-mounted picker in which the picker unit iscarried beneath the rear axle of the tractor.

According to the present invention, a corn harvester comprising twopicking units is mounted upon a tractor with the picking units atopposite sides thereof and extending beneath the rear axle. The pickingunits are pivotally mounted upon a transverse member secured behind andto the tractor axle. A wagon elevator is mounted upon the transversemember and includes two conveyor loops which convey corn cars from thepicking units to the tractor center line and along the center line to awagon connected at the rear of the tractor.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the novel corn picker of the presentinvention mounted upon a tractor;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the novel wagon elevator used with the cornpicker of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a side view of the wagon elevator;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the lines 44 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the lines 5-5 of Figure 2; and

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines 66 of Figure 2.

The reference character It designates a tractor which includes a narrowlongitudinally extending body i I, a narrow front truck I2, atransverse- 1y extending rear axle l3, and rear wheels I4 at the ends ofthe axle I3. Upon the tractor I0 is mounted a corn harvester designatedgenerally by the reference character l5. The corn harvester comprisestwo picking units I6, one at each side of the tractor body II and eachcomprising a snapping unit I1 and a husking unit I8. Gather points I9are connected to the front of the snapping units I1, and a centralgather point 29 embraces the front of the tractor body I I. Eachsnapping unit includes a pair of snapping rolls 2 I.

A corn picker of the present invention also includes a wagon elevatorI04 for transferring corn ears from the husking units I8 to the wagon.As will be seen from Figure 2, the wagon elevator I64 comprisesessentially two conveyor loops H2, each of which has a transverselyextending first portion H3 extending from a first point at the rear ofone picker unit to a second point adjacent the longitudinal centerlineof the tractor and a longitudinally extending second portion H4extending rearwardly from the second point and upwardly along thelongitudinal centerline of the tractor to a third point rearwardly ofthe tractor. The longitudinally extending portions H4 pass through andalong opposite sides of a central tubular housing H5 formed, asindicated in Figure 11, of channel sections H6 and H1. Each conveyorloop H2 includes, in addition to the transverse portion H3 andlongitudinally extending portion I I4, a diagonally extending thirdportion I I8 extending from said third point back to the first point atthe rear of the corresponding picker unitwhich passes through a housingI I 9 formed, as indicated in Figure 5, of a section I20 and a narrowchannel section I2I closing the opening in the section I20. The forwardend of the channel section H6 is cut on a slope, as indicated at I22, sothat the housing H5 is open at its forward end and exposes thelongitudinal portions H4 of the conveyor loops I I2. The transverseportions H3 of the conveyor loops are also exposed, being carried inchannels I23. As indicated in Figures 3 and 6, each of the channels I23comprises a member I23a forming one side and a bottom, and a channelmember l23b forming the other side. A sheet I24 is secured to the memberI23a as an extension to the one side. An angle member i240. reenforcesthe joint of the members l23a and I24. The sheets I24 are out out at I25(Figure 6) for reception of the very rear ends of the picking units I6.The horizontal edges of the cut out portions I25 carry a rubber memberI26 acting as a seal upon contact with the rear end of the picking unitI6. Extending between the central housing II and the upper housings I I9at their forward ends are sheets I2I'. Side members I210. extend fromthe sheets I24 as continuations thereof along the. housings IIQ- as faras the sheets I2! extend. Members I211) extend from the sheets I24toward one another into tangential contact. The sheets I22.I and I2! andmembers IZIa. and I2'Ib cooperate to form hoppers for the reception ofcorn ears as they are delivered from the elevating conveyors 26 of thehousing units I8.

The channels I23- form the base portionof a triangular frame work whichincludesrthe-rear- Wardly extending housings II9 which form an apex. Thethird tubular section I I5 extends from a midpoint at the base ofthetriangular frame work to the apex thereof.

The conveyor loops II2 of the wagon elevator Hid-are driven bya shaftI28 which imparts rotation to'a bevelgear I29- meshing with the bevelgear I30. The bevel gear I30 is carried on a shaft I3I, the lower-end ofwhich carries pulleys I32. Belts I33-connect the pulleys I32 and pulleysI34-mounted upon shafts I35 positioned at the sides ofthe wagon elevatorI84. Sprockets I36upon the shafts I35 drive the conveyor loops II2.

As best-shown by the broken-away section at the rightencl of Figure 2,the conveyor chains I I4 and IIB- at the rearward ends where they jointogether passover a supporting sprocket I35a. This sprocket togetherwith the corresponding sprocket I35 carry the conveyor structure withinthe surrounding-structure in which the conveyor operates.

In operation, the tractor It is driven through a field of corn withadjacent rows of corn passing between the sets of snapping rolls 2 I.Corn ears aresnappedby the rolls 2| and are conveyed rearwardly to thehusking units I8. The husked ears are delivered from the rear end of thehusking units into the wagonelevator. Transverse portions II3 of theconveyor loops II2 move the ears transversely to the center line ofthetractor, and thence the ears are moved upwardly and rearwardly alongthe tractor center line by portions I'M of the conveyor loops H2 and aredumped into a trailing wagon.

Since the husking units I8 pass beneath the tractor axle I3, the pickingunits may be removed from the tractor with comparativeease, since theunits need be lowered to the ground only a short distance upondetachment from the tractor. The wagon elevator I04 is not only believedto be new as a conveying means, but is also novel in relation to theparticular picking units with which it is used. Since the picking unitsextend beneath the tractor axle, the corn ears are discharged from theunits at a lower level than they would be if the units extended over theaxle.

Thus, it would be diificult to move the ears trans versely from the endsof the picking units to the longitudinal center line of the tractor forconveying to the wagon, by means of ordinary gravity chutes.Consequently, a positive conveying means for moving the corntransversely is of great advantage, and a transverse conveying means formoving ears from the picking units to the tractor center line and alongitudinal conveying means for moving ears along the longitudinalcenter line to the wagon are combined in one in the conveying loops I I2forming the essential; parts of the novel wagon elevator mi.

The intention is. to limit the invention only within the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is: p

1. A conveying device of triangular shape comprising first and secondtubular sections forming two sides of the triangle, open channel meansforming the third side of the triangle, a third tubular sectionextending from. a midpoint of the open channelmeans to the corner of thetriangle formed by the meeting of the first and second tubular sections,a first. con

veyorloop extending along the channel means from the first tubularsection to themid-point thereof, thence through the third tubular. sec--tion to the aforesaid corner ofthe triangle, and thence through thefirst tubular section back to the channel means, a second conveyorloopex tending fromthe second tubular section along thechannel means tothe mid-point thereof, thence through-thethirdtubular section to thesaid corner of the triangle,- and thencethrough the second tubularsection back to the channel means;

2. The conveying device-specified in claim 1, and further includingclosuremeans extending between the first tubular section, thethirdtubular section, andthe channel'means and-between the secondtubular section, the third tubular-section and the channel means seas toclosethe spaces between the tubular sections adjacent the I channelmeans, and means extending alongthe outer side of the channel means andthe outer sides of the first and second tubular sections adjacent thechannels so'as-to form a high retaining wall, the closure means andthe'retaining wall forming with the channel means areservoir for anexcess of material adapted to berec eived by the conveyor loops in theopen channels and to be conveyed by-the conveyor loops through the thirdtubular section.

BENJAMINM. HYMAN. ELOF K; KARLSSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references, are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES. PATENTS

